Monthly Archives: November 2013

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Manny Pacquiao and Brandon Rios will both do 1-hour satellite tours that will be streamed live and can be viewed by the public.

Rios’ tour will begin at 4:30 p.m., Pacquiao’s at 5:30. Fans can take them in at either www.toprank.tv or www.insidehboboxing.com. Pacquiao and Rios will square off Saturday in the welterweight main event in Macau, China (on HBO pay-per-view).

Everyone is well aware by now of the brief brawl between the Manny Pacquiao and Brandon Rios camps Wednesday morning in Macau, China, where the two fighters will meet Saturday in the welterweight main event (on HBO pay-per-view).

But even a day earlier, Robert Garcia was making a bold statement regarding Pacquiao’s apparent bleak future as a fighter. Garcia trains Rios.

“Twice during the two episodes of ’24/7′ I’ve heard Freddie Roach say he will ask Manny Pacquiao to retire if he loses to Brandon Rios,” Garcia said. “Well, Freddie had better buy that gold watch for Manny, because the retirement party begins on Saturday night. I guarantee you this will be the last time you ever see Manny Pacquiao on an HBO Pay-Per-View.”

Roach, of course, trains Pacquiao, His beef with the Garcia camp Wednesday that resulted in Roach being kicked in the chest by Rios’ strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza, is bound to make Thursday’s third and final episode of “24/7: Pacquiao/Rios.”

Josesito Lopez of Riverside will be back in the ring for the first time in six months when he takes on Mike Arnaoutis in the welterweight main event Dec. 13 at Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio (on Fox Sports 1).

“It’s great to be back in the ring, especially in front of my Southern California fans,” said Lopez, 29. “Arnaoutis is a tough guy and I know he’s going to give me a fight, but that’s what I’m looking forward to.”

Lopez last fought June 8 and was stopped in the sixth round by hard-hitting Marcos Maidana at Home Depot Center. Prior to that, Lopez challenged super welterweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez for his title and was stopped in the fifth round on Sept. 15, 2012 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Lopez earned the fight with Alvarez after the biggest victory of his career, a ninth-round TKO of former welterweight champion Victor Ortiz on June 23, 2012 at Staples Center. Lopez broke Ortiz’s jaw.

Lopez is 30-6 with 18 knockouts. Arnaoutis, of Queens, N.Y., is 34. He is 24-9-2 with 11 knockouts. A former contender, he has lost six of his past eight fights. But he’s talking big.

“Josesito Lopez is a true warrior and with our styles, this is going to be a fight no one will forget,” he said. “I can’t wait for the first bell to ring and I’m not going to stop swinging until my hand is raised.”

We reported earlier that there was an altercation between members of the Manny Pacquiao and Brandon Rios camps Wednesday morning at a gym in Macau, China, where the fighters will square off Saturday in the welterweight main event (on HBO pay-per-view).

Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, was peeved that Rios and his team were still in the gym at 11 a.m. Macau time even though that’s when Pacquiao is supposed to get the facility. Roach and Robert Garcia – Rios’ trainer – exchanged harsh words. At one point, Alex Ariza apparently started mocking Roach the way he talks because he has Parkinson’s, according to a report on ESPN.com.

At that point, Roach took a step toward Ariza, who kicked Roach in the chest. There has been no love lost between Roach and Ariza, who used to be the strength and conditioning coach for Pacquiao, but now holds that role for Rios after he was let go by Team Pacquiao.

That same report on ESPN.com said that Roach referred to an obviously upset member of Rios’ camp who was shouting at Roach, as a “Mexican mother (expletive).”

An argument over gym time turned physical when Alex Ariza kicked Freddie Roach in the chest on Wednesday morning at a gym in Macau, China.

That’s where Manny Pacquiao and Brandon Rios will square off Saturday in the welterweight main event at the Venetian Resort (on HBO pay-per-view).

Roach trains Pacquiao, Robert Garcia trains Rios. As for Ariza, he used to be the strength and conditioning coach for Pacquiao, but now has that role in the Rios camp.

A video shows Roach and Garcia arguing over Team Rios still being in the gym at 11 a.m. (Macau time) even though Pacquiao’s time starts at 11. As the two exchange barbs, a member of Rios’ camp is beside himself and has to be restrained and Ariza and Roach begin to jaw at each other.

Roach took a step toward Ariza, who then kicked Roach in the chest. Roach told security he wanted Ariza arrested.

There is a video out there that can be found on YouTube. We can’t post it here because it contains quite a bit of foul language.

Longtime promoter Bob Arum on Saturday will promote the welterweight fight between Manny Pacquiao and Brandon Rios in Macao, China (on HBO pay-per-view). During a conference call, he remembered vividly his favorite international promotion, and it was no surprise.

“The one that sticks out and is most comparable because it takes place in the same time zone is the ‘Thrilla in Manila’ when Muhammad Ali faced off against Joe Frazier,” Arum said. “That fight took place in the same time that the Pacquiao-Rios fight will take place – around noon Manila time. It was one of the greatest fights I have ever seen in my life.”

Ali won when Frazier did not answer the bell for the 15th round of the fight that took place Oct. 1, 1975.

“These guys went at it and (trainer) Eddie Futch wouldn’t let Joe Frazier come out for the 15th round and Muhammad won the fight,” Arum said.

Arum also remember the immediate aftermath.

“What I remember most was going outside the (Araneta) Coliseum after the fight was over – we had just seen this unbelievable fight and the sun was the brightest that I have ever seen and it was almost as if everyone was blinded by the daylight, and it was one of the most memorable experiences I ever had in my life.”

Timothy Bradley was on a conference call last week with several boxing legends, such as Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard, George Foreman and Marco Antonio Barrera. All were discussing Saturday’s fight between Manny Pacquiao and Brandon Rios in Macao, China (on HBO pay-per-view).

Like Barrera, Bradley knows Pacquaio more than most in this regard because he fought Pacquiao in June 2012 in Las Vegas. Bradley won a split-decision, though most experts thought Pacquaio was the winner. Either way, Bradley is a student of the game and he believes he knows what Rios – the underdog – needs to focus on to have a chance at victory.

“First of all, he should expect to see Manny Pacquiao being very quick and very elusive and lots of feints in this fight,” Bradley said. “Manny Pacquiao dropped a lot of feints on me and it kept me off-balance as far as shots. He’s very difficult to hit at times, too, because he is always angling out. He’s coming in, he’s coming out, he’s angling out to the right or to the left. That’s what Brandon Rios should expect.”

In other words, Bradley said, Rios should not think that Pacquiao is just going to come straight at him.

“He is going to have to expect a lot of angles in this fight,” Bradley said. “Rios, if he is going to have a chance to beat Pacquiao, he is going to have to close the distance. He is going to have to get close, stay close and punch.”

Pacquiao (54-5-2, 38 KOs), of the Philippines, is fighting for the first time since being knocked out by Juan Manuel Marquez in the sixth round last December in Las Vegas. Rios, the former lightweight champion from Oxnard, is 31-1-1 with 23 knockouts.

Edwin Rodriguez on Saturday morning made the 180-pound weight-check limit for his fight with Andre Ward when he tipped the scales at 179.8 pounds.

Rodriguez weighed 170 on Friday, two pounds over the super middleweight limit. That rendered him unable to challenge. Ward for his super middleweight title in the main event at Citizens Business Bank Arena (on HBO).

Ward will walk away as champion no matter what happens in the fight. He insisted Rodriguez re-hydrate to no more than 180 Saturday morning, or there would be no fight.

Rodriguez will be forced to give 10 percent of his $1 million salary to Ward and 10 percent to the California State Athletic Commission.

Ward, of Oakland, is 26-0 with 14 knockouts. Rodriguez, of Worcester, Mass. via the Dominican Republic, is 24-0 with 16 knockouts.

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